Cargo Cult - Who is John Frum? He is known to us by many names, this Visitor from Elsewhere, dispenser of endless abundance and wielder of mysterious technologies: John Frum, Quetzalcoatl, Osiris, "Bob." His cargo is splendid, his generosity boundless, his motives beyond our understanding. But across the ages and around the world, the stories all agree: one day he will return, bearing great gifts. Our theme this year asks three related questions; who is John Frum, where is he really from, and where, on spaceship Earth, are we all going?

Since everyone, including myself, is a bit confused as of what this years theme means, why don't we all sound our interpretations?
What does this theme mean to you?
How will you implement this theme in your experience?

glittertits wrote:Since everyone, including myself (but excluding theCryptofishist), is a bit confused as of what this years theme means, why don't we all sound our interpretations?
What does this theme mean to you?
How will you implement this theme in your experience?

There, fixed it for you.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.
Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

Sometimes it's helpful to see what Wiki has to say and then go from there: " Cargo cults—the religious practice that has appeared in many traditional tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures—focus on obtaining the material wealth (the "cargo") of the advanced culture by building mock aircraft, landing strips, and the like."

My interpretation is that some of us burners perceive some other members of the BRC community to be more advanced or more sophisticated when it comes to pop art expression, camp infrastructure, building of social community, etc. While we might be enamored in the witness of such virtues to the point of worship/envy/animosity, we sometimes might try to convince ourselves that we could possibly emulate being as baddass in these regards if we could just tap that unknown particular something which is hiding inside us if we could find it. While we lack the confidence to go ahead and make an earnest effort toward these goals, in fear of failure, we oftentimes credit knowledge in these areas much like an armchair quarterback will do in order to feign an earned disinterest in such pursuits while in reality the desire still exists somewhere deeper in our being. While all this is going on, we'll elevate the positions of those most successful in the art of all things Burning Man almost akin to a cult, so we are therefore relieved from having to answer why we are not ourselves doing what it takes to be worthy of such accolades because we have elevated it to a seemingly unreachable plane. Either that, or perhaps it's just finding that "just right" pair of cargo shorts.

The camp with a difference
Never mind the weather
When you camp with Plug & Ply
Your holiday's forever

And how it is going to influence my experience: I will just continue to hope that my sometimes unpolished attempts to get it right will result in my acquiring the ability to bring neat, sparkly goodies to the playa like the most accomplished of burners who provide the stuff we all go to Burning Man for.

The camp with a difference
Never mind the weather
When you camp with Plug & Ply
Your holiday's forever

After reading a bit about cargo cults on Wikipedia and perhaps some other places, and watching the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which has a good example, I find that this theme has two fundamental elements:

1. It is a fabulously thought-provoking concept about human nature and interaction between unfamiliar societies. So it is a great opportunity for us to improve our minds, and then bring positive influence to others.

2. It has wonderful opportunities for fun-and-games. People have been laughing at cargo cults for decades, which is perfectly natural, if not exactly benevolent or wise. Keep in mind there is really no such thing as humor without “victims”. When somebody makes a Norwegian joke, I burst into laughter, recognizing a comical element of my own personality. So I see no harm in having fun with this theme – provided we also understand the background. (It would be rather easy to be cruel about it.)

And mind you, it should not be difficult to make fun, not only of the cults, but of us "modern" folks who have for so long pathetically failed to understand the concept and have heedlessly ridiculed something we did not understand. I feel this holds the greatest potential for art – innovative art with depth, as opposed to just assembling deliberately crude replicas of technological wonders made of bamboo and coconut shells.

Now for how I will implement this. Probably not at all. Oh, perhaps I will come up with a good way for me to play with what I described in the last paragraph above. But for now I feel my dance card is already full. There is certainly no requirement to make use of the theme – I see it as more of a helpful suggestion, in case I don’t have enough Stuff boiling in my mind already.
But yeah, I would love to do some sort of theater with this theme, perhaps with a future technologically-advanced society visiting… maybe us. Which –- to the best of my understanding -- is the concept that produced the flying saucer Man Pavilion. Gotta love it!

All right, enough of that silliness. We want to see pictures of your glitter.

I sort of imagine Burning Man as the tribal culture that briefly came into contact with the default world, and formed a cargo cult based on that. John Frum will return and bring us glorious things from outside Black Rock Playa, like tiny rivers that come into our huts, and "in-tah-net". I imagine a lot of strange totems made of, and customs revolving around, discarded broken things.

"I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass through me. Where the fear has gone, there shall be nothing. Only I will remain."

Schtev wrote:I sort of imagine Burning Man as the tribal culture that briefly came into contact with the default world, and formed a cargo cult based on that. John Frum will return and bring us glorious things from outside Black Rock Playa, like tiny rivers that come into our huts, and "in-tah-net". I imagine a lot of strange totems made of, and customs revolving around, discarded broken things.

Oo. I envision a camp made to resemble an internet café, with rows of hollow old monitors, in front of which we genuflect. A gold-painted statue of the God "Wi-Fi" sits at the end of the hut, on an altar surrounded by candles, swag necklaces and single-ply travel rolls. People gather to pray to the Wi-Fi.

Offerings may be left. Self-proclaimed clergy lecture and beg for hand-outs. Ceremonial drinks are served.

Salvation never comes.

*** 2018 Survival Guide ***
"I must've lost it when I was twerking at the trash fence." -- BBadger

Human beings are inquisitive creatures that constantly seek MORE. And although MORE "fill in the blank" may bring you happiness, it doesn't fill the void. This years theme made me think of our creation story, and how we got here from Eden. My question is, "How do we get back II Eden?" What is your creation story, and what is your well thought out plan on getting back II Eden?

Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. - Mark Twain

So would that be a sort of messiah-based setup? The benevolent god Wee Fee, who sent his own son John Frum to us to bestow bounty upon us, and will one day do so again if we very strictly abide by the traditional Ten Principles of our culture?

Savannah wrote:

Schtev wrote:I sort of imagine Burning Man as the tribal culture that briefly came into contact with the default world, and formed a cargo cult based on that. John Frum will return and bring us glorious things from outside Black Rock Playa, like tiny rivers that come into our huts, and "in-tah-net". I imagine a lot of strange totems made of, and customs revolving around, discarded broken things.

Oo. I envision a camp made to resemble an internet café, with rows of hollow old monitors, in front of which we genuflect. A gold-painted statue of the God "Wi-Fi" sits at the end of the hut, on an altar surrounded by candles, swag necklaces and single-ply travel rolls. People gather to pray to the Wi-Fi.

Offerings may be left. Self-proclaimed clergy lecture and beg for hand-outs. Ceremonial drinks are served.

Salvation never comes.

Last edited by Sundial on Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

"I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass through me. Where the fear has gone, there shall be nothing. Only I will remain."

Schtev wrote:Somebody just pointed out to me that a cargo cult is basically what happens when you violate the Prime Directive.

while not a direct violation of the prime directive, as it wasnt intentional, (though a point of discussion within the story) there is an episode of star trek voyager which might in some way have something to do with the 'cargo cult' topic

The USS Voyager approaches a planet rotating 58 times per minute and, while investigating, the ship enters a gravimetric gradient pulling it into an orbit in which the crew becomes trapped. On the planet, a native is then seen preparing an altar. Just then, an earthquake happens, and the native sees a new star in the sky, which is Voyager.

The tachyon core of the planet has created a differential in space-time, meaning that time passes much more quickly on the planet than in the rest of space. Within "moments" of Voyager's arrival and entrapment many years have passed on the surface. The initial entry into orbit coincides with an earthquake interpreted by the inhabitants as an act of a new deity, the Voyager ship appearing as a new bright star in the sky

The scientist that has made first contact with Voyager explains to a fellow scientist that the Sky Ship, the name the planet's inhabitants have given Voyager, is a prominent feature of all of the planet's culture.

For centuries the society lives with the constant ground-shaking effect brought about by Voyager and its effects on the natural poles and rotation of the planet.

Voyager is also used as a catalyst for religion, music, art, and even children's toys.